Does anyone know how you get copies of your notes post birth?

[completelyabsolutely]

DD is now 10 months and dp and I were tenatively discussing whether or not we are going to have another dc at some point. Before she was born we had talked about having another but dp has been seriously traumatised by the birth and is now not so keen.

I think if we could get hold of my notes and have someone talk us through what had happend then it would help him to get past it a bit more. Does anyone know how you go about getting them, how long they are kept and if it is possible to get an appointment to discuss what happened - even if it is a private appointment, I would be happy to pay for this, I would kind of view it a bit like therapy for dp.

Bit of background into what happend - dd was 2 weeks overdue and despite my instinct to say no I went ahead and was induced - had 3 lots of gel, didn't work, dd wasn't even descended. Got sent home on Sat night, booked in for c section on Monday, went into labour on Sunday night. I was pretty knackered by this point and was told dd needed constant monitoring so was stuck in bed, had morphine and things are pretty clouded for me beyond this point tbh. I also had an epidural which worked wonderfully but I started shaking really violently. Then dds heart rate started to drop, then pick up and then drop again. The midwife called the doctor through 3 times but he said everything was fine, until the doctors changed shifts and I saw a different doctor who immediately had me taken into theatre and whisked dd out with forceps. They took her straight away - again not sure what happened, I know her first apgar score was only 1 and they briefly waved her under my nose before taking her to scbu. Dp heard the doctor say afterwards (she didn't know he was there) to the midwife - I can't believe he (first doctor who said all was fine) left that poor woman and that baby for so long, I will be speaking to him when he gets in because that was a close thing.

Dp didn't know what was going on, had to make decisions for me as I was so out of it and really thought one or both of us were going to die. Now as far as I know I was always fine just looked horrific - convulsing and excorcist like! Things were not so good for dd but she was out of scbu in 2 days and was home by the friday.

If anyone has any info that would be great, I don't want to give up on having a second child just because of that one day and I want dp to understand what happened because at the moment he can't even think about it without getting upset. For me it was all a blur so I am not really troubled by what happened but dp had it all without the aid of gas and air - I know it was actually happening to me and I don't mean to sound flippant about it, I know at the time it was worse for me but I don't have the same memories that dp has so I can't help him understand what happened.

Sorry for the epic, any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks.

Could you call PALS at the hospital or speak to your GP?

I got my notes after a very traumatic experience with DS1 - similar to what you describe except he was not delivered by forceps and he was in a worse state when he was born and had to have three adrenalin shots, the third one intra-cardiac, to bring him round.

I can't remember now - it's over nine years ago - but I think I wrote to the consultant and asked for them. It took a bit of shilly-shallying but I got them eventually. I think I had to pay something for them though.

There should be a liaison midwife at your hospital. It is their job to come to your house and discuss your birth experience and try to answer any questions you may have.
They would probably have a copy of your notes with them, but you need to call your obs dept and ask for her contact no.

Ask your doctor to get the notes for you - you should be able to talk them through with one of your midwives. You could also talk about the possibility of an elective c-section if you feel that might be a less traumatic option for you for the future - although it sounds as if you are not as traumatised by it as your dp.

I think for partners it can be difficult for them to get their heads round when things don't go to plan - it might be also worth him exploring individual counselling to help him deal with the birth.

I contacted PALS at the hospital and they gave me the name and number of the person in Health Records who could send me my notes. She would also have arranged for me to see a consultant or midwife to discuss the notes should I have needed to.

I'm sorry it was so terrifying. I understand how a traumatic first delivery can put you off having a second. I still can't contemplate it.

There should be a liaison midwife at your hospital. It is their job to come to your house and discuss your birth experience and try to answer any questions you may have.
They would probably have a copy of your notes with them, but you need to call your obs dept and ask for her contact no.

There should be a liaison midwife at your hospital. It is their job to come to your house and discuss your birth experience and try to answer any questions you may have.
They would probably have a copy of your notes with them, but you need to call your obs dept and ask for her contact no.

Poor you - what a nightmare. You don't need to go via your GP - PALS service at hospital good place to start (think stands for Patient Advocacy and Liaison service) . You used to have to fill in a form requesting your notes and pay a £10 fee for a copy of them - not sure if that is still the case. You are absolutely entitled to them though. I think a debriefing appointment with either the consultant in charge of your care or the head of midwifery would be a very good idea and the PALS dept is a really good place to start because they will negotiate all the internal communications and politics for you and be your advocate and even come to the meeting if you want them too.

Good luck

I think I phoned the 'file keeping department' (there was an official name, but can't remember what it's called - I think I asked the maternity ward first), who then sent me a form that I had to return with a fee to get a copy of them. APart from expensive (I seem to recall it was £20..!?!?), it wasn't difficult, but well worth it.

Just in case it is of interest - I did go on to have a second DS (and a third, in fact!) - we were very worried second time around but I refused the offer of an elective c-section as I was pretty convinced that I could do it okay second time around - so it proved, had very quick drug-free labour second time around and DS2 was fine.

But having the notes was very useful as I was able to brief all the consultants etc who obviously didn't bother to read them .

Oops - lots of cross posting. Mrs Ruffallo's advice sounds good.

I had a Traumatic birth with DD1 and she was finally delivered by Ventouse.I was quite angry about alot of things,and I wrote a letter to complain.

My wonderful MW at the time,was able to agree on some points with me,when I explained to her.She said she would obtain the notes and go through them with me and DH.

She was true to her word,and despite being desperately busy,brought them round and went step by step through everything,even commentating on the monitoring readout,and explained what was happening.At the end of it I was sobbing,I hadn't realised the danger I and my DD1 were in.I ripped my letter to shreads,and thanked God that DD1 had been born safely.

At the end of it, even my MW agreed that everyone had done everything they could have done for a good outcome.

So,yes see if you can speak to a MW,explain what you need to do,and hopefully like me, you'll make sense of it all,and put some fears to rest etc.

Wow - thankyou all for your speedy responses! I will find out about the PALS and see if I can get in touch with my midwife to find out if I can get an appointment with her or someone at the hospital.

Dp has said that if we could be guaranteed before ttc that I could have a c section he would have no reservations at all but my feeling is that I healed up pretty quickly and well and was back on my feet really soon. I don't really want to put myself through what is essentially major surgery unless I absolutely needed it - if it was me that was traumatised I would absolutely agree that a c section was warranted. Maybe after going through the notes I will find out things were worse than I thought and change my mind!

Does anyone have any ideas about the shaking after the epidural - I really needed it and wouldn't have coped without it but the side effects were pretty horrible. I have read somewhere that warming the epidural up before injecting can help but not sure if that is true or if it realistically happens?

Alot of patients following General Anaesthetic wake up and shake.Its a recognised "side effect" of anaesthetic drugs.As a Recovery nurse the only thing we could do was give oxygen,during the 20 minutes or so that Patients were in Recovery it gradually wore off,the oxygen seems to speed this up.

I would think that, if you made an appointment with your GP, they should be able to either point you in the right direction or request the notes for you, or get you an appointment with your consultant at the maternity hospital/ward.

I shook with my epidural but only started shaking at the pushing stage which I put down to nerves/adrenaline.

So have just phoned the hospital but I need to speak to a lady in the legal department who has left for the evening so will give her a call tomorrow.

I think i will need to check my notes to find out when the whole shaking thing started. I can remember having a period of calm after the epidural really kicked in and I sent dp off to go and get himself something to eat and kept falling asleep but snoring so loud I kept waking myself up Then the next thing I really remember was shaking really violently, feeling freezing but was burning up and trying to sign my name for the epi with a wildly flailing around arm! I know I got a top up at some point aswell but it is all a blur really! It must have been normal though as no-one seemed particularly concerned which is what I have been trying to tell dp but I think he needs someone 'official' to tell him that I was ok.

Thanks so much for all your help, I didn't even know where to start.